Whoopsie

Whenever we have a little mistake or accident, we catch ourselves saying "whoopsie."  We learned this from grandson Liam who used to say "whoopsie" whenever he had a little accident.

Unfortunately for us, he is a child and his "whoopsie's" are small.  We are adults and ours are much bigger.

Yesterday an old friend was helping me catch up on spraying while I was on the tractor.  One pass I looked over and wondered what that long thing was laying in the waterway.

We have two power poles on the electric company right of way on one farm.  He had snagged his boom on a brace wire which snapped and the rotten power pole broke off.

These too poles have been scheduled for replacement for two years and every time they want to replace them there is a crop in the field or it was super muddy.  I ask if they will pay for the damaged crop and they say, oh, you won't even notice we were there.  Not true. I discourage them from replacing them but one got replaced yesterday.

I went to the house to get a drink and call the power company.  Yep, the lights were off.  That line serves many customers.  I begged them to get it off the farm when I moved here and it would only take another quarter mile of poles and wire to get it off that farm.  They said sure, we will do it for $11,000!  That was ten years ago.  I told them I don't think we will be doing that anytime soon.  Yesterday, for a moment, I wished I had done it.

The lead guy Danny shows up and I pick up a shingle from the yard that blew off the house in the straight line winds the other day.  I hold it up and say, "sure have had some strong winds here lately."  He smiled and winked his eye and didn't even ask what got torn up to tear down a light pole.  I said these poles have been scheduled for replacement and he said yes, it is right here on my paperwork.

In four hours the old pole was removed and the new one was up.  Everyone on our line had their electric back.

In my defense, the breakaway booms on the sprayer never broke off and you KNOW how easy they are to snap.

I rest my case in the fact those poles need replaced.

I wonder when they will come and try to replace the other one?  It looks more fragile than the one that snapped yesterday.

I thanked God no one got hurt.  My worry to get the spraying caught quickly disappeared.  My guardian angel is one vigilant angel.

Ed Winkle

Bean Planters Rolling

Serious soybean planting has started in Ohio.  One friend has 500 acres in the ground as of Wednesday morning.  Another friend asked me this question:

"Since you are my notill guru...I am starting to notill beans in today.  Most of the field closed the trench decent.  Some areas though, left some slot.  shallowest setting... about an inch

Just running row cleaners for the heavy trash, rubber closing wheels

I can count the beans sometimes.  I am not comfortable trying to really pinch the slot too hard.  But they are calling for good heat the next 3 days, with a chance of rain Friday

(which is why I am trying to get beans in early enough to hit the heat and get a few days ahead of the rain.

Question is,,,, how necessary is it to get the seed trench closed for beans..

( I do like all the extra moisture I have compared to the till guys)"

 

My answer: 

Sorry I just got this email.  Should be OK this early but normally like to see an inch of topsoil on top, same density above each seed.  You will figure it out, beans will take a pounding but I don’t like to pound them in or pound the soil on top of them.

 

Bean planters rolling in Ohio and some haven’t even started corn.

 

It is amazing how fast the U.S, can plant a crop today.  Something like half the U.S. crop was planted in one week last May.

 

How is your planting coming?  How do you like to close the trench on corn and beans?

 

I am only showing corn today because I have not found any emerged soybeans.

 

Ed Winkle

Domestification Of Livestock

The domestication of plants and animals was one of the most important events in human history, but rarely have archaeologists been able to catch the process in the act. Now, research at an 11,000-year-old settlement in Turkey shows that some early farmers kept wild sheep penned up in the middle of their village—thus setting the stage for the dramatic changes that led to today’s domesticated animals.

Archaeologists studying the origins of farming have hundreds of sites to choose from across the Middle East, but few of them tell the full story. That requires a spot that spans the transition between a hunting and gathering lifestyle and a farming lifestyle, a period from about 10,500 to 9500 years ago. Researchers have long had their eyes on just such a site: Aşıklı Höyük, located on the banks of the Melendiz River in central Turkey—a land of idyllic streams and dramatic volcanic formations popular with tourists.

Earlier work had suggested that Aşıklı Höyük might be a center of the earliest stages of animal domestication. The new study, led by zooarchaeologist Mary Stiner of the University of Arizona in Tucson, confirms this. The team looked at an archaeological layer radiocarbon dated to between 10,400 and 10,100 years ago. The botanical remains from this level show intensive cultivation of cereals, lentils, and nuts, meaning that crop farming was already under way; but the spectrum of animal bones in the earliest parts of this layer reflects the hunting of a wide variety of wild animals including hares, tortoises, and fish, along with larger animals such as goats, wild cattle, deer, and sheep. The most abundant large animal was sheep, although they represented less than half of the total animals.

Moreover, the sheep bones from these early levels were clearly those of wild animals, which can be distinguished from domesticated animals by their larger size and the distribution of ages and sexes: Wild herds, left alone by humans, tend to include more older animals and a roughly equal number of males and females.

Beginning about 10,200 years ago, however, the proportions of wild animals in this layer began to change, as the team reports online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The hunting of smaller animals appears to fall off to insignificant numbers, while the percentage of sheep—which outnumber goats by three to one—steadily increases. By about 9500 years ago, sheep represented nearly 90% of all animals at the site. Moreover, the researchers say that the age and sex pattern of the bones indicate active management, or herding, of the sheep: Only about 11% of the females died before the age of 6 to 7 months, whereas 58% of the males did, a typical pattern that reflects farmers’ desire to preserve females for breeding."

I remember teaching some basics in Ag I Animal Science class, but this goes into more detail than we did in the Stockman's Handbook.  When I hear the word sheep, I think of Sunday School, my daughter winning champion lamb at the county fair and New Zealand.

When we were driving around the countryside, that is Sable the German Shepherd and I, we might pass the Achor Farm east of us.  They keep 300 ewes and their lambs or so.  I would cry out sheeeeep like baaaahhhh and Sable would about jump out of the truck.  Herding is her natural instinct.

I never was a sheep man but livestock was very important to me the first 18 years of life or so.  That's what my dad did for his livelihood.

Ed Winkle

Water Rule

With the drought in the west and the floods in the east, I thought this article was thought provoking.

"Time to Ditch the Water Rule

By Chris Chinn

My husband, Kevin, and I farm in northern Missouri with his parents and brother. We are the fifth generation of farmers in our family and we raise hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans and rye. We are also raising our children on our farm and clean water is important to us. Regardless of whether Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires it, protecting our water is one of our priorities. We want to pass our farm on to the next generation so it only makes sense that we care for our natural resources in a responsible manner.

EPA’s proposed Clean Water Act rule will significantly affect our family farm. The proposed rule will expand the scope of “navigable waters” subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction by regulating ditches, small and remote “waters” and ephemeral drains where water moves only when it rains.

Most of these areas look more like land than like “waters” and they are dry most of the year. This proposed rule means any ditch on your land will be regulated by the EPA, even if it only holds water one day a year.  This will prohibit farmers from using land that is in or near a ditch unless they have a Clean Water Act permit.

Congress writes the laws of the land, not federal agencies. When Congress created the Clean Water Act, it clearly limited federal regulatory power to “navigable” waters.  Congress did not intend to allow EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to regulate farmland just because water occasionally flows across it. EPA should respect the limits set by Congress.

Some people are saying farmers and ranchers should have no concerns because we are “exempted” from the rule but this is not the case.  The “normal farming and ranching” exemption only applies to a specific type of Clean Water Act permit for “dredge and fill” materials.  There is also no farm or ranch exemption from Clean Water Act permit requirements for what the EPA would call “pollutants,” but I would call plant nutrients and protection products. This means under the proposed rule, many common and important practices like weed control and fertilizer spreading will be prohibited in or near so-called “waters” unless you have a Clean Water Act permit.  This further complicates my situation due to the fact we frequently use recycled fertilizer from our hog barns.

Another startling fact is the EPA and the Corps have interpreted the word “normal” to mean only longstanding operations in place since the 1970s—not newer or expanded farming and ranching. Does this mean when we pass our farm onto the next generation’s hands that they will no longer be able to farm that land? This rule would appear to me to be detrimental to new and beginning farmers—exactly the type of farmer that many of us in agriculture have been working hard to support. That just makes no sense.

The proposed Waters of the U.S. ruling is a bad idea and it will cripple the ability of farmers and ranchers to continue to produce food. If the proposed rule prevails, it will be illegal for farmers to spray for weeds or apply fertilizer to their ground unless they have a permit. Routine tasks like building fences will even require permits if they will be built in or near a ditch. Many farming practices are time-sensitive and farmers cannot afford to wait on a government agency to process a permit.

Common sense goes a long way and it is desperately needed when looking at this proposed ruling. If dry farm fields and ordinary farm ditches and ponds are allowed to be regulated as “waters of the U.S.,” farming and ranching will suffer and so will those who depend on agriculture for food.

We need to make our voices heard. It is time to ditch the water rule. You can share your comments and make your voice count by visiting the FBAct Insider page: http://capwiz.com/afb/issues/alert/?alertid=63192396."

Government regulation is impacting our industry more every day.  What do you think of the point of this plea or regulation in general?

Thanks,

Ed Winkle

History Of Hybrid Corn In Ohio

A fellow who asked about open pollinated corn prompted this response from me.

Grandpa Winkle planted Bloody Butcher beside Reid's Yellow Dent in the 20's until he tried the first hybrid in the early 30's.  Dad was 18-20 years old.

C38 and US 13 were early hybrids I remember from dad.
http://www.maydica.org/articles/49_155.pdf
This a really detailed and interesting history of corn in Ohio in the last century!

By 1938, 40% of Ohio's corn was hybrid corn.  Can you imagine harvesting 130 bu when your neighbor got 25?  It happened.  Grandpa was considered the first man to break 100 bushels in Brown County in the 20's.

Ohio Seed Improvement was started at that time and I have worked with them since 1985, this will be my 30th year.  I scout wheat and soybeans and other crops but the corn program which was so important is pretty much gone.  The seed companies took over that responsibility and I don't know what year.  Executive Secretary-Treasurer John Armstrong currently runs our state seed improvement, OSIA,  I see they have a new website under development.
http://ohseed1.org/

I remember we broke 160 bushels in the 50's.  Our record was 234 bushels 1971, the year after the awful Corn Blight.  I didn't break that until 2004 at 265 bu on 50 acres.  I have not broken 300 bushels field average, last year came close around here.

The picture is one of my favorite corn pictures of all time, my first corn crop on Horseshoe Road in 2011.  It made a record 190 bushels for that farm the first time I ever farmed it and it quit raining July 17 with the last inch.  It was the driest fall I remember.  The link in my first sentence will lead you to two more of my favorite corn pictures of all time.

My favorite blog of all time is the one I wrote years ago about Hybridization Of Corn.  Links may come and links may go, but the population growth chart link in this blog still works!  I still enjoy clicking on it and watching it take off!

I really question if you and I would be here today if it weren't for hybrid corn.  Think about it.  Many consider that event genetic modification but the definition of a GMO is inserting the genes of one specie into another via a gun, virus or bacteria.  Hybrid corn wasn't done that way, traited corn was.

Ed

Heaven Is For Real

We broke our all time record of movie watching by going to see Heaven Is For Real after watching God's Not Dead two weeks ago.

"Heaven Is for Real is a stranger and better movie. Where God’s Not Dead is an independent film made on a shoestring, and looks it, Heaven Is for Real is prettily shot, has a few special effects, and stars actors you’ve heard of, including Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo, the father and small-town minister who wrote the memoir on which the film is based. However pious, however sincere, this is a movie with worldly as well as celestial matters on its mind: produced by Sony, it is full of plugs for that studio’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Most prominent is a Spidey action figure that the central character, four-year-old Colton Burpo, carries with him pretty much everywhere except heaven. That might have been overkill, marketing-wise.

Kinnear and the rest of the film’s cast, including Thomas Haden Church as a friend and church elder, and Kelly Reilly as Colton’s mom, ground the movie by giving unflashy performances, relying instead on their genial, low-key charisma. Kinnear in particular gives the scenes where Todd wrestles with the meaning of Colton’s experience an honest, appealing earnestness. What baffled secular me is why the film’s vision of heaven, which seemed almost boringly conventional—the handful of scenes illustrating Colton’s experiences look like the kinds of celestial imagery you’d see in a child’s Bible or on the walls at Mormon visitor’s center—is troubling to Todd and the members of his church. Their puzzlement felt like someone in an urban crime thriller being disturbed by a character’s firsthand account of a strip club that has poles and loud music. But maybe this all hinged on some doctrinal issue that escaped me. And without any conflict, the movie would have been over in 20 minutes, tops.

 

Aside from Jesus’s blue-green eyes and his horse—which, alas, we never see—what amused me most about Heaven Is for Real was the way the camera singles out Colton and tries to convey that he somehow stands apart from the rest of world. What with odd angles, back lighting, occasional flashes of lightning and even, at one point, a bedroom curtain eerily blowing in the wind, if you had the sound off you’d think you were watching a demon-seed movie. But films like these, which wear their goodness on their sleeves as a matter of course, have to find their dark, entertaining flourishes where they can, even when it strains."

 

Everyone has their own opinion.  We enjoyed God's Not dead more but both were worth the price of admission.  They make you think beyond this world.  God's Not Dead held our attention every word and scene where Heaven Is For Real has beautiful Nebraska scenery and little Connor Corom who steals the show.  Too much of the movie is focused on his dad, played by actor Greg Kinnear and the movie is slow in many places.

The young girl in Lithuania at the beginning and end of the movie ties it together, where God's Not Dead ties it together at least ten different ways.

 

I never thought I would have the chance to be a movie critic on HyMark High Spots!

 

I better stick to agriculture, right?

 

Ed Winkle

Worms, Roots And Cover Crops

"Soil Health aficionados like to say that roots and worms make channels down into the soil – transferring nutrients and carbon between soil layers. What this looks like in reality was made clear at a recent Soil Health field-day in Berwick, PA, sponsored by NRCS and the PA No-till Alliance, with crop consultant Gerard Troisi and soil tester Will Brinton from Woods End Lab, Maine.

A soil pit dug in the triticale cover crop at the Broyan family’s Faihopity Farm showed a remarkable coincidence of worms and the roots: the earthworm channels extended down nearly 28″ and following them, a trail of roots and humus. “We can’t tell which happened first – if the roots were followed by the worms eating their way down, or the worms made channels that the roots took advantage of, but it belongs to a healthy state”, explained Will Brinton who presented Soil Health Tool test (SHT) results for the farm.

Attendees at the event observed a significant quantity of earthworm castings on the soil surface in the triticale fields. Samples of soil taken under the triticale had Solvita respiration of 123 ppm CO2-C indicating an extremely vibrant biology in the topsoil profile. Recent published research in Applied Soil Ecology reported soil basal CO2 respiration around earthworm burrows to be twice that of surrounding soil. And, as the picture shows, those benefits are likely being transferred to deeper layers.

In 1881, Charles Darwin brought international recognition to the lowly earthworm by publishing detailed observations of earthworm habits in farm fields. Among his findings: worms are capable of moving and depositing as much as 15 tons of soil per acre/year as enriched castings on the soil surface. Earthworm awareness has increased significantly since his time, yet there is still under-appreciation of the quantitative role they play in soil building and just how much tillage may diminish their populations.

 Closer observation of the picture makes evident that the worm/root channels have made a very significant impact with obvious infractions nearly every 4″ laterally across the pit sidewall and extending downwards to depths greater than 24″."

The field in question is slated to be no-tilled corn for 2014. Soil health tool results from Woods End Laboratories suggested reducing N rates and no additional P or K required. Farmer Chris Broyan says he plans to follow these SHT recommendations to see how it turns out."

I met Gerard at NNTC and see him every year.  I've seen Steve Groff and David Brandt grow 200 bushel corn using cover crops so I know it can be done.

It's good to see others exploring alternative methods of raising crops by addressing soil health.

Ed Winkle